Volcanos, again

Thursday: Volcanos National Park part 2. Thanks to our National Parks Pass we decided to drive to the Park for a second time. This time we listened to a Ranger presentation about volcanology - which explained many things, we didn't understand before -, then we joined a ranger tour to the caldera of Kilaoea. We hiked a trail down through dense rain forest (pic below) to the volcano's caldera (pics far below). This time the group was huge, but, nevertheless, we noticed that these rangers and volunteers are really knowledgeable, eloquent and entertaining at the same time.




This photo shows the place where offerings for the Goddess Pele, who is said to live in the volcano, are deposited. Closeby the visitor center there is also a big stone with the ingraving of the goddess. Until 2018 there was a "Rim Road", but not anymore now.

After the tour we drove to "Fissure 8" in the Puna District (Pahoa), the spot where in 2018 the hot lava surfaced and flooded the whole coastal region. A couple of hundred of houses were destroyed, but, fortunately, people were evacuated by helicopters just in time. The main road was and partly still is covered with a several feet high layer of lava, hard to describe and to understand how devastating nature can be. On the other hand, the coastline was expanded and new "black-sand beaches" surfaced. On the pic a beach, which was formed by flowing lava in a previous eruption in the 1960ies.

On the way back to Hilo - on a pretty adventurous one-lane road along the coastline - we stopped by at Mauna Loa Macademia Nut Company, surrounded by nothing but nut trees (and a papaya plantation nearby), then headed into Hilo to make the Happy Hour in one of the fancier restaurants in town, Jackie Rey's Ohana Grill.

"Pupus" (appetizers) were offered for $ 5 each, beer the same price. Had fantastic coconut-crusted calamari, pork ribs, Ahi Tartare on wonton chips and Pita Bread with Hummus. Just got home after a warm (up to 80 deg. F.) and partly sunny day, when it started to rain hard and continuously almost all night.


And, two exotic birds,,,